The present invention is related to apparatus for reducing the propagation of explosion from one explosive device to another. In particular, the present invention is related to the prevention of the propagation of explosion from explosive devices in one pallet to other explosive devices nearby.
Munitions are classified according to the damage which can result from accidental or untimely explosion thereof and their susceptibility to untimely or accidental detonation due to impact thereon by fragments produced by a nearby explosion. One of the especially hazardous catagories is the "mass detonating" class of munitions wherein detonation of one munition in close proximity with other similar munitions will cause most or all of the others to detonate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,484 addressed the problem of preventing the detonation of a second munition packed on a pallet with an exploding first munition. This patent disclosed the use of a coherent solid mass of vibration-damping and moisture-resisting material positioned between munitions on lines joining the centers or axes thereof. This material interrupted transmission of shock effects to reduce a likelihood of mass detonation of all of the explosives packed together on a pallet.
When adjacent munitions on a pallet detonate, a focused jet of lethal particles is formed in a symmetry plane between the munition. This focused jet, similar in its effects to a shaped charge munition, greatly enhances the lethality of particles emerging from a plurality of detonating explosive devices on a pallet. The mass focusing in the symmetry plane of detonating 155 mm shells, for example, is capable of perforating in excess of 3.5 inches of rolled homogeneous armor plate.
Thus, the two problems to be solved by the present invention include the detonation of munitions in a nearby location from primary fragments of one or more exploding munitions on a pallet as well as the even more severe threat to nearby munitions of a mass focused jet resulting from the simultaneous or near-simultaneous detonation of two munitions on a pallet.